Charlemagne,[70] which says that: "Si quis caussam judicatam repetere
in mallo praesumserit ... a Scabinis, qui caussam ipsam prius
judicaverint, accipiat." Generally speaking, however, it seems
probable that their jurisdiction included all cases arising within the
city limits, which could be dealt with in the regular _placita_ of the
counts, and which were not of sufficient importance to be referred to
the king in person, his representative the Count of the Palace, or his
delegates the _missi regii_.

When the count went up to the general yearly _placitum_ of the king,
as the representative of the _civitas_, according to the laws of
Charlemagne he was to be accompanied by a certain number of the
_scabini_; and these seem to have accompanied him not solely in the
character of legal advisers, but also in a certain measure as
representatives of the cities in which lay their jurisdiction: they
are by no means what the exaggeration of Sismondi[71] calls "des
magistrats populaires ... qui representaient la bourgeoisie"; but they
certainly stood for the interests of the people, in a greater degree
than any of the ruling powers we have as yet considered. Their number
is variously stated in the laws of different kings, and their actual
number seems seldom to have come up to the standard of legal
requirement. Lewis the Pious requires twelve to accompany each count
when summoned by the emperor: "veniat unusquisque Comes et adducat
secum duodecim Scabinos";[72] but concedes that if so many could not
be found in the city, their number should be filled out from the best
citizens of the town: "de melioribus hominibus illius civitatis
suppleat numerum duodenarium."[73] According to Charlemagne,[74] no
one should come with the count to a king's _placitum_ unless he had a
case to present, "qui causam suam quaerit, exceptis scabinis septem,
qui ad omnia Placita esse debent." And again: "Ut nullus ad placitum